The Future Soon
by musiksnob
Summary: Eli and Clare find a fun way to celebrate Clare's high school graduation.  Eclare.  Oneshot.


**DISCLAIMER: I don't own Degrassi or anything else.**

**Twitter: themusiksnob / Tumblr: musiksnob**

**So, I'm sorry about freaking out in my last author note. It has been difficult lately but my resolve as an Eclare shipper hasn't faltered. So I'm going to keep writing Eclare fics and if you've given up on them, you can feel free to read someone else's stories.**

**I'd really like to thank everyone who reviewed and gave me their support. You really helped me fight through my doubts.**

**Just an FYI to anyone who's reading Sentimental Heart (and you should be – I think character-wise it's some of my best writing, although you should start with I Thought I Saw Your Face Today since that one came first): I am still working on it but the next chapter is really difficult. I do have some time this weekend though, so I'm hoping I'll be able to get through it. The two chapters after this one will be very happy so please bear with me through one more depressing one (it's not Eclare that's depressing in it).**

**And now for a much needed happy, smutty oneshot. This is named after the song The Future Soon by Jonathan Coulton though it does not share the same thematic concerns as that song. So don't worry. No robot wars in this fic.**

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><p>"Finally," Eli said, as we walked back to his car after leaving the restaurant. "I thought they'd never let us leave."<p>

"Hey, my parents just had a whole dinner together without fighting," I said. "I barely wanted to leave."

Eli grinned at me as he unlocked my door. "But you've _so_ been looking forward to this party."

I rolled my eyes. The post-graduation bash was all anyone had been talking about at school the past week. But Alli's parents had already vetoed it and Adam was stuck with his family all night, so it was a grad party without my two best friends.

I leaned over to unlock his door and he gave me a quick kiss before turning the car on. "If we hate it, we can leave early, right? We just have to make an appearance."

Eli grinned. "I don't know, Clare. I might be too drunk to drive you home," he joked. My parents had spent the last half hour of the dinner grilling us on every detail of our party plans: Where was it? – Sadie's house. Would her parents be there? — Of course, I'd said, while crossing my fingers under the table. Will there be drinking? — Possibly but neither of us would be participating even though Eli had been 19 for months and we weren't stupid enough to drink and drive.

"You better not," I teased. "I need to be home at midnight on the dot." My parents had made a big deal of being generous by extending my curfew for a whole hour in honor of my graduation.

"Hope you have money for a cab. I'm getting shitfaced," he deadpanned, and I slapped his arm in jest. Eli hadn't drank so much as a sip of alcohol since his nineteenth birthday a few months ago. He had made me and Adam fake IDs to go out on the town with him, but he was the one one who ended up getting wasted. We had to throw him in a cab and bring him home to Bullfrog and Cece who teased him mercilessly about it rather than getting angry.

That was definitely a one time thing. "I don't understand why my parents don't trust us."

He laughed. "Because underneath your parents' hardass, Christian exteriors, they were 18 years old once. And they snuck around behind their parents' backs and got drunk and stayed out late and danced to the devil's music."

"That must be it," I said, grinning. Eli put on his blinker to make a left turn onto Queen Street and I gave him a confused look. "Sadie lives on Berkshire."

"Is it okay if we make a stop before the party? There's something I want to show you."

"Sure," I said, confused.

He drove to the other side of the city, passing the university, and heading into a neighborhood I wasn't that familiar with. He circled around a few blocks looking for parking, while I gazed out of the window. We were from a pretty nice part of Toronto – not the richest section of course, but residential and clean and relatively safe – but this area seemed pretty sketchy. The sides of buildings were covered in graffiti and lots of the buildings looked like they were filled with empty, failed businesses.

"We're not here to buy drugs, are we?" I asked, mostly joking, but really confused about why we were here.

Eli shook his head. "After all these years you still have no faith in me?" he teased. He found a parking spot and grabbed my hand as we walked down the street, my other arm firmly clutching my purse.

He climbed the front steps of an apartment building and I expected him to ring the buzzer but he took his keys out of his pocket to unlock the door.

It finally dawned on me. "You found an apartment?"

Eli grinned. "Just this weekend. Come on."

I followed him up three flights of winding, steep stairs. Eli had spent his first year at the University of Toronto living at home, not wanting to add the extra expense of living in res since he lived just across the city and his parents were footing the bill. But about halfway through the year, he and his parents had decided that no matter how close they were, the college lifestyle was incompatible with living with your parents. When Adam got accepted, they decided to get an apartment off-campus together, since Mrs. Torres wasn't comfortable with Adam living in a dorm room with a male roommate. She wasn't all that thrilled about him living with Eli either, but Mr. Torres convinced her commuting from home wasn't going to help Adam fit in.

Of course, Eli had persistently begged me to move in with them too, but there was no way my parents were going to let me live with two boys, let alone my boyfriend. I knew my parents' divorce had put a financial strain on our family, so I had decided to live on campus and finally gave my parents my blessing to sell the house. It would be weird to spend summers and school vacations at the condo or the apartment Mom would have to find in the coming months, but I knew it was the best situation for all of us.

I was panting as we made it to his door, not used to running up so many steps, but Eli's excitement forced me to chase after him. It took him a few tries to open the door, but he got it open and gestured for me to come in.

The door led to a small living room that was completely empty. The room led to an open kitchen at the back. The apartment smelled vaguely antiseptic as if it had been recently cleaned and I could see Eli had left some cleaning supplies on the kitchen counter.

"I think you're missing some furniture," I teased.

He laughed. "Adam's bringing the couch from his basement. And my parents said I could take their old TV but I haven't had a chance yet."

He whisked me over to the first door on the left and I looked into a small bedroom that was completely empty. The wood floor looked filthy. "Adam's room," he explained. "He can scrub this himself."

The next room was a reasonably sized bathroom that Eli must have put a lot of work into cleaning, because you could just tell it was probably disgusting when he got in here. "Bathroom," he said unnecessarily. He pushed back the shower curtain. "Look, room for two." He wiggled his eyebrows at me.

"We're going to have to write down Adam's class schedule." There was no way I was getting into a shower with Eli if poor Adam was sitting in the very next room. He already felt enough like a third wheel in our friendship.

"He and Katie are getting pretty serious. He might be checking out the water pressure with her sometime himself."

"And you really want to be in the apartment when he does?"

"Point taken."

"Last but not least…" Eli dragged me to the last door on the other side of the living room. He opened the door and I was surprised to see that he'd already moved in his bed, desk and dresser. There were some clothes hanging in the closet and on the top shelf, I could see the box of important things that Eli had saved after he started getting rid of the many items he had hoarded.

"You're already moved in?"

He smiled. "We signed the lease on Saturday, and I've spent the last four days scrubbing this place with Cece's help. We moved the furniture in this morning. Let me tell you, getting a bed and a wooden dresser up to the fourth floor without an elevator is just about the worst thing I've ever had to do."

I couldn't believe Eli had already moved out of his parents' house. We lived close enough to home that I knew I'd see Cece and Bullfrog frequently, but it felt like the end of an era, almost as much as my graduation had been.

"What about Adam?"

"His parents won't let him move out until the middle of August. But the guy was pretty desperate to unload this place; I think there's like six or seven empty apartments in this building alone. So I told him I'd sign a 14 month lease if he'd give me the first two months for half price. And voila," he said. "My very own apartment."

"I can't believe this is your room," I said and Eli came up to hug me from behind. For one thing, I couldn't believe how empty it was. As well as Eli did with cleaning his room and purging most of the junk, he always had too much stuff. I didn't want to bring that up though. "Your walls are empty. Where are all the posters?"

"I just moved in this morning, woman." He joked. "There's still a lot of stuff I need to pack and bring over. I figure I can put my beer poster on this wall, and a couple of naked ladies riding motorcycles here, and of course, the obligatory John Belushi in Animal House poster right over the bed."

I rolled my eyes. "But that won't leave any room for your blacklight poster of a marijuana leaf."

He laughed. "We'll have to put that in the common room." He leaned down to kiss my neck. "So, what do you think?"

"Hmm…sketchy neighborhood…no elevator…grime that no amount of scrubbing will get rid of." Eli's face fell and I turned around to wrap my arms around his neck. "Seems like the perfect first apartment."

Eli looked relieved. He brushed his thumb over my cheek and looked into my eyes. "Still want to go to that party?"

I loved that he wasn't pressuring me, that if I really wanted to celebrate graduation with my friends, he'd take me there without complaint. But without Adam and Alli, it seemed like the party we could have here would be infinitely more fun. I could see Dave and Connor and Wesley at the Dot anytime this summer, and hanging out with a bunch of drunk strangers didn't sound all that appealing.

"Nah," I said, and Eli looked pleased.

Judging by his empty apartment, there was really only one thing for us to do, but I knew I couldn't just give in immediately. "So if Adam's bringing the couch and he's not moving in until August, does that mean your living room is going to be empty until then?"

Eli smirked. "Yup. Why? Do you want to christen the living room with some floor sex?"

I rolled my eyes. "In your dreams, Eli."

He laughed. He led me over to the bed and I kicked off my flats and lay down next to him. His hands caressed my neck, as we smiled at each other.

"Spend the night with me," Eli said. His voice was serious, but I knew there was no way he thought that was possible.

"Your first night in your own apartment and you can't bear to be alone?" I teased.

"I could be alone," he said. "But I want to be with you." He pushed my curls back, lightly grazing my earlobe and touching the piercing we'd gotten so long ago.

"I can't. My parents..."

"Your dad will be asleep like the dead by midnight. We'll wake up early and sneak you in the house and he'll never know."

It was certainly a tempting offer, but even the slim chance of him waking up and finding me gone wasn't something I was willing to risk. "If he catches me, I'll be grounded for the rest of my life."

"You're 18. You're a high school graduate."

"I still live in their house." I loved how Eli had his own apartment for one day and all of a sudden he decided all of my parents' rules didn't matter.

"What's the worst that can happen? It's not like they don't know we're fucking."

I sneered at him. Neither the word he used nor the memory he was referring to was very pleasant to me. "Whose fault is that?"

He raised an eyebrow. "You were the one who couldn't make it all the way up to your room."

"And you were the one who didn't remember to throw out the condom wrapper."

We had gotten caught a few months ago and my ears were still ringing from the lecture my mother had given me. She couldn't really get too mad at me though, since she'd been banging Glen Martin for months and they certainly weren't married. The only benefit to her finding out – and her telling my father – was that I could finally stop wearing my purity ring which had felt like such a lie for the months we had been sleeping together.

"I was a little distracted. It's not every day a beautiful girl gets on top of me and rides my cock."

He captured my lips and I moaned at the sensation. It was amazing after all this time how much he could still affect me with just his lips and his tongue. I tangled our legs together as his hand came up and cupped my breast through my dress, while the other slipped underneath to grab my ass.

"Before we get too into this," my voice wavered as his tongue traced down my neck. "Do you even have protection?"

He laughed. "Of course. I have my priorities straight." He sucked on the soft skin where my neck met my shoulder that he knew was my weak spot, and my eyes fluttered shut. "Although we could always go without," he whispered huskily against my skin.

As much as I wanted to know what it felt like to have Eli inside me with no barriers, that wasn't a risk I was willing to take – pill or no pill. "Not without a college diploma and a ring on my finger," I reminded him.

He pulled back far enough that he could look me in the eye. "So four years from now, then?"

I raised an eyebrow. "Are you planning on proposing the night of my university graduation?"

He grinned. "I'm not even sure I could wait that long."

His arms tightened around me and he kissed me once again. It was breathtakingly soft at first but the intensity built as our tongues moved against each other and he pulled my bottom lip between his teeth. I started to unbutton his shirt, but Eli seemed to have other plans because his hands snuck up my thighs and started tugging off my underwear.

"I don't want to have sex with our clothes on," I commented, though my face formed an expression of pleasure as his fingers slipped inside me. "That always makes me feel so…dirty." The difficult thing about living with our parents was having the opportunity to fool around; the last few times we'd been together we'd resorted to shoving clothes out of the way and having a quickie that was never quite successful enough for me. It was impossible to have a slow, romantic sexual experience when you were worried about your mother waking up or his parents walking in unannounced. I definitely wanted to take advantage of our newfound freedom.

"Isn't dirty a good thing?" he asked, crooking his fingers in a way that made me moan.

"Eli," I admonished, but he just laughed at me.

"You're acting like I don't want to see you naked." He started pressing kisses in a trail up my bare arm. "If it were up to me, you would never have clothes on."

"Yeah, I'm sure Adam would really love that."

Eli smirked. "We've got two months before he moves in. We can designate the apartment a clothing free zone until then."

"Well then I think we're both in violation."

He peeled my dress over my head, skimming my skin with his fingertips before unhooking my bra to complete his mission. I pushed his shirt from his shoulders and struggled with opening his jeans for minute; it always bothered me how easily Eli undressed me while I always had difficulty with his stupid – though sexy – skinny jeans. Once he was naked he pressed me back against the pillows. He held himself up over me, but I pulled him down so that our skin was touching in as many places as possible.

He started kissing down my body and I knew he wanted to go down on me, but it had been a few weeks since I had him inside me and I didn't want to wait any longer. As his mouth kissed my hip bone, I moved my feet to his shoulders and pushed back just enough for him to get the hint. "Condom," I said, and he grinned.

"Yes, ma'am."

He opened his desk drawer and I laughed when I realized the box of condoms was the only thing in it. I knelt next to him on the bed while he rolled it on, and climbed on top of him once it was ready. He fell back against his pillow while my hips rolled against him, rubbing his cock against my clit a few times before allowing him to enter me.

His eyes fluttered closed as our hips clashed together, and I kissed him, sloppy and forceful and deep French kisses, the kind that were filled with moans and whimpers as our bodies merged and parted in this most delicious way. It was feeling so good, and I wondered if maybe this would be the time to take me over the edge from just sex, but I needed to get off so badly I wasn't taking any chances.

I held myself up over him and dangled my breasts in his face, fully knowing Eli wouldn't be able to resist them. He took one in his mouth and the other in his hands, and followed me as I slowly moved us into a sitting position. He crossed his legs underneath me, and I wrapped mine around him. Everything was slower in this position but it was just as sexy, and I sucked on his neck as he growled into my ear.

He grabbed my ass with one hand, helping me keep moving onto him while his other grazed my clit. He was moving slowly, teasing me, but I needed to find release. "Harder," I moaned, and I could feel Eli's body tremble. He stroked me with more pressure as I pushed down on him as much as I could in this position. I bit down on his shoulder, a habit from when I was trying to conceal my cries, before remembering that we were completely and totally alone. "Oh, Eli," I moaned, softly at first but picking up the volume as I got closer. I whimpered his name over and over until finally the tension burst and I shuddered over him.

I caught my breath for barely a second before pushing him back down to the bed and rewarding him with hard, fast strokes. His grabbed my hips and set the rhythm and I leaned down to drag my breasts all over his chest. He tried to kiss me but I wanted to hear his moans so I kept my mouth busy on his neck until the pace was too much to do anything but thrust against him and listen to the sexy sounds he was making.

"God, Clare," he moaned, and seconds later, I could feel his release. I slowed down, but kept him inside me until I was sure he was finished before climbing off him and curling up into his side.

Eli waited a minute before disposing the condom but then he put his arms around me and gave me the sweetest smile. "So does that count as your graduation present?"

"Hey, I was Salutatorian. I think I deserve more than just one round of completely mindblowing sex."

He smirked. "Two rounds then?"

"I was thinking something more romantic."

"Like this?" he said, his voice soft and sexy. He reached into his bottom dresser drawer and pulled out a small jewelry sized box.

My eyes widened. "Eli?"

He blushed. "It's not…I mean, I really don't think I'll wait all four years of university, but this is just…I don't know. I got so used to your purity ring; I think your finger needs something."

I opened the box and saw a beautiful ring. It was a sapphire in the middle with two emeralds surrounding it. Underneath the ring was a key. "Key to your heart?" I teased, still a little on edge. I was glad he hadn't proposed; not that I didn't want to marry him but we were just so young. But the ring was beautiful and perfect and it reminded me of us and I slipped it onto my left ring finger, not caring that was supposed to be reserved for a ring with more concrete significance.

"Key to the apartment," he said. "Really, it's yours. Adam even said it was okay. If you need to escape a roommate or a quiet place to study in the afternoon or if you want to come hang out with Adam while I'm at work, or come over late at night because you miss me…"

"In essence, su casa es mi casa."

"Exactly," he said. "Or at least I think so. I took French."

I pulled him closer to me, resting my head on his naked chest. "This was perfect, Eli."

"The presents or the sex?"

I gazed into his eyes. "Everything," I said sincerely.

He smoothed his hand over my back gently and lovingly and I appreciated the tender moment we were sharing. "I love you, Clare. And I'm so proud of you."

"I love you too," I said.

I looked at the clock and it was getting close to my curfew and I just knew I didn't want to let Eli go. "So if we wake up at 5 and you drive me home, do you think I can sneak in before my dad notices?"

He grinned. "I think it's worth the risk."

We shared another kiss that was so powerful that I knew any potential punishment would be completely and utterly worth it.


End file.
